


charred

by orangesparks



Category: Tales From the Crypt (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-23
Updated: 2014-04-23
Packaged: 2018-01-20 12:33:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 361
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1510568
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orangesparks/pseuds/orangesparks
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Niles Talbot hates being unemployed. Fortunately, that won't matter much longer.</p>
<p>(Spoilers for 1x01: 'The Man Who Was Death')</p>
            </blockquote>





	charred

See, I'm one of those rare men who enjoys his job.  _Really_  enjoys it - savors it, even, like a fine wine or a good, rare steak, dripping with blood and nice seasonings. Now, other people can't  _stand_ that. Those pencil-grinders, desk-sitters, fancy-suited politicians, they hate what they're doing. They can't stand someone who puts so much heart into his work.   
  
Fitting, really, that they're looking to take it all away from me.   
  
They'll be coming for me any minute, they will. And these new boys, they don't appreciate the work the way I do. Don't appreciate the hard weight of the switch clenched tight in your hand, jerking back that hot-cool metal with finesse that no woman could ever replicate on your own poor fevered body. I'm not a religious man by any means, mind, but that feeling, that hot curl in your belly when you see the poor bastard jolting against every single one of them 10,000 volts - hell, that must be the way God always feels.   
  
And here come my escorts, now.   
  
"Evenin', boys."  
  
They don't look at me. None of them look at me. Another difference between me and them - the biggest difference, probably, the most  _important_  - is not a single one of 'em can  _look me in the goddamn eye_.   
  
  
-  
  
  
They're asking if I have any last words. Sure. Everyone does. But mine ain't comin' for a good long time, because the governor's gonna call. He knows I ain't like the rest. He knows I'm just a hard-working man who cares a hell of a lot about his trade. Still, I decide to humor 'em.  
  
"Make mine medium rare, will you, son?"   
  
Not a flinch. They can't laugh about it the way I can, which is a damn shame. The job ain't half as fun when you're taking it all so goddamn seriously. For all his faults, though, that new boy at the switch sure don't hesitate when the governor don't call and it comes time to  _pull_ , just like whoever's at his own switch one day - be it man or beast or a nice happy disease - won't hesitate, either.  
  
(It all evens out, don't it?)


End file.
